]
Gisborne
22 February – 24 February 2010
Place of the rising sun
Gisborne, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, is the first place to see the sun. It is the place of beginnings. Not only the first place in the world to greet the new day, but also a significant place in history. The first Maori settlers landed here, carried by a whale and arriving on a boat from Hawaii. And in 1769 Captain Cook first landed here.
And now, this sunny remote spot is known for its wineries, farms and forests. And for its mayor: a Chinese New Zealander.
Gisborne is a small place, big on hospitality. We get met at the bus station. All our meals are served with generous portions. And we learn more about the Chinese who live here now, and experience a welcome from the Maori people of the Tairawhiti area.
We eat at the China Palace, the most Chinese restaurant we’ve been to. On the first night we members of the Chinese community, a mix of China and New Zealand born. Most are old, and still hold onto their Cantonese village language, chatting to each other around the round dinner table. Most were market gardeners. And now are retired. Their sons and daughters scattered by the four winds, educated, professional.
We tour around the area. A look out hill. The water below is pale blue, extending to South America. A marae (Maori meeting house) where Nick, our Maori liaison officer, explains the meanings of carvings to tell stories.
The mayor takes us to another marae Ohako, where we join others from the local council and some scientists to be welcomed onto the marae. We press noses with the local elders. And while the others engage in a consultation meeting, we sit under a fig tree and plan.
The mayor takes us to another look-out, pointing out a patch of remaining native forest.
We visit the local museum and art gallery, with its displays of Maori art and history, and then end up again at China Palace, this time for dinner with some local artists.
The artists then join us at the council building for a workshop, where we talk about the Family Portrait project, show some images, and then Mu gets all to try their hand at portrait painting.
The next day we visit the Chinese Association buildings, a large old hall with a timber floor and portable table tennis tables. The tables are transformed into mounts for our exhibition, and after a talk in Chinese and English, we work with the assembled to hear and capture stories. Mu paints a 72-year old man, who arrived here just after Second World War as a 13-year old, and helped at his uncle’s market garden, before running a fish and chip shop. Dick Ng only saw his father for the first time, when he was walking up the stairs of the Chinese Association building. “You probably don’t know this guy,” said someone, “but this is your father.”
These are the stories of Chinese in New Zealand. Separation, longing, return, hardship.
No one I talk to wants to return to market gardening. Too hard. Too difficult. Now machines have taken the place of hands. And the young people have moved away. Gone to university. Become professionals.
The Association used to have a church minister who taught Chinese to children after school. But now’s he’s gone. Not enough children to justify classes.
A man tells me about going home. Back to China. He’d never been there before. But when he found his ancestral village, all the people were speaking his language. And he felt at home. “It was better than I expected. I felt like I’d come home.”
Thanks to Gisborne mayor Meng Foon, his wife, Nick Tupara, the Maori artists, members of the Gisborne Chinese Association and especially for Neal Finnegan, Mitch, Katie and Sean for their generous hospitality.
In 2011 we hope to exhibit works from this adventure in Gisborne.
